Manager Keith Bird poured praise on Canterbury City’s young players after winning at Fisher on Saturday.

Josh Strouts scored the only goal to earn a youthful City team the points, which moved them further clear of the Southern Counties East Premier Division bottom three.

Bird rated the performance in the 1-0 win, which also saw them keep just a second clean sheet since October, extremely highly.

“That was probably one of the best - if not the best - performance since I took over,” said the boss, who took the hot-seat in January.

“We played some really nice football. What was really pleasing was, apart from two or three, most of the squad were early 20s or younger.

“We have managed to instil a sense of how to manage a game now.”

For Strouts, on loan from league rivals Chatham, it was a second goal in as many matches.

He had scored in a 1-1 draw against high-fliers Glebe at Salters Lane the previous weekend, a contest Bird missed due to a pre-booked skiing holiday.

But Bird revealed: “Josh is not a striker! It’s not his position to be honest with you.

“We don’t really have a recognised striker - we have a lot of attacking centre midfielders and number 10s but we don’t have out-and-out strikers.

“I actually watched Josh for Chatham under-23s when I was at Holmesdale, and I liked him then. Watching him in training, I felt we could convert him.

“That is starting to pay off. He is getting us goals. He has shown a lot of maturity and composure for a young lad.

“Who knows? Maybe that will be his position in the future.”

City visit Erith & Belvedere this weekend.

Bird admits his 16th-placed side are pulling away from the relegation places but concedes a top-half finish is now out of reach.

He suggested: “Really at this stage of the season, it’s more about continuing to gel this squad together.

“Then, let’s look forward to next season and see how we can strengthen it.

"The exciting thing is we have seven games to continue to learn.”

Bird also tipped Sam Wilson, who recently left his role as City assistant, for a long and successful career in the game as he thanked him for his efforts during his time at the club.